HD scenario hearing damage shotgun vs revolver?

L

LH2

New member
Currently keep a .38 Spl revolver for HD, but I've always thought it would be L-O-U-D if I had to use it indoors with no time to worry about hearing protection and hearing damage would be likely.

That said, is a 12ga or 20ga shotgun significantly quieter? I've always thought shotguns were a softer BOOM versus the sharper noise a revolver makes.
 
hearing damage

i think the shotgun would be a better if you're really concerned ,i also own both the weapons mentioned and couldn't imagine firing my snubby indoors hope this helps!!!be safe and shoot well!:cool: :cool:
 
If my life is on the line, I don't care if my hearing goes. I also want to be able to hear the threat coming.

It's a lesser of evils.
 
If you are trying to decide which platform to use for HD based on what will cause the least hearing damage, I think you are missing the point of home defense.

Except for silenced guns, indoor shots will be extremely loud because of the initial sound plus all the addition sound pressure reaching your ears after bouncing off the walls, ceiling, floor etc.

I would not let potential hearing damage determine what I do for self defense. Even if hearing damage may and probably will occur, it will likely be very little and not even noticed by you, in large part because your ears would have suffered just a few insults of short duration. Now, if you shot indoors on a regular basis without hearing protection, then hearing loss need to be addressed.

Whether or not you will suffer hearing loss won't matter if you choose a platform and caliber that won't stop your intruder or won't stop the intruder fast enough and he ends up still killing you. When you are dead, hearing capabilities are not relevant.

So you want the information for when you determine there is a problem and don't have time to grab your hearing protection along with your gun? Try storing your hearing protection on the gun. In that way, if you grab the gun, then you have grabbed your hearing protection.
 
Hearing protection IS important

Hi everyone,

To me hearing protection in a HD situation IS very important. Just because you blow away a bad guy in an emergency, it should not mean your hearing is gone for good with him. Keep in mind that in many HD situation shots are fired as a DETERRENT and not to kill or stop a threat. I am very cautious of what I load and how load it is. That is why I stick with lighter loads and smaller caliber and count on my shot placement!

As I pilot I am exposed to noise all day long, in the airplane and worse on the ramp.

Maybe I go overboard a bit, but since I have sensitive ears I even wear small earplugs in some of the noisy movies.

Merry Christmas,

drdirk
 
drdirk, previously posted,
"...many HD situation shots are fired as a DETERRENT and not to kill or stop a threat."
Click to expand...

Huh? This comment just caught me as being alien to all my training or beliefs. Does anybody else on this forum believe executing lethal force, which pulling the trigger is to me, would be just a deterrant, too? I just didn't know people still planned on shooting warning shots anymore. It's naive of me to have thought we were all on-the-same-page with this. I do realize other states may have more leniency than California when it comes to the legalities of deploying a firearm, though.

I believe, once the shooting starts, shots are fired until the threat ceases and anytime a shot is fired, death is likely. I suppose, hanging some electronic hearing protectors on the 1st-choice firearm sounds like a good idea, however.
 
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shot to kill?

The question of wether you always have to shoot to kill or may be able to shoot deterrent or "non-lethal" to me depends on the type of threat. Everyboyd has to decide for themselves but to me shooting does not necessary mean killing. It depends on the level of theat, and yes I can envison a situation where a warning shot may be ok and better than killing someone.
...but I don't want to change the orignal threat here. Back to hearing!
 
I saw a decibel chart posted someplace and I believe a 12ga 18" barrel was louder than about any handgun *except* a .357 mag which came in at about 165dB. :eek: But all of the centerfire handguns were surprisingly close, regardless of caliber or platform.

I'm thinking of keeping some electronic muffs with my HD shotgun. I don't want to lose my hearing just because I had to defend my life with a firearm.
 
To me hearing protection in a HD situation IS very important. Just because you blow away a bad guy in an emergency, it should not mean your hearing is gone for good with him. Keep in mind that in many HD situation shots are fired as a DETERRENT and not to kill or stop a threat. I am very cautious of what I load and how load it is. That is why I stick with lighter loads and smaller caliber and count on my shot placement!
Click to expand...

That is truly amazing. You purposefully stick with lighter loads and smaller calibers for your home defense gun because of the threat to your hearing protection and so you are, in effect, simply counting on shot placement of the under powered small calibers to create the stop needed?

Are you nuts?

Or, maybe it is that you have a safe room with a gun port and so you have no fear of your opposition in your home as you will be protected regardless of what the threat can throw at you?

Whether or not you think you are using lethal force, discharge of a firearm in Texas is considered use of lethal force even if you are not intnetionally attempting to use it in a non-lethal manner.

Yes, hearing is extremely important, but the original query of the thread pertained to not being able to get to hearing protection.

The more prudent thing to do, then, is to get a silencer and go with a larger subsonic round.

However, drdirk, might I suggest some nice Aguila Colibri for you? You won't have much concern of it killing since it has troubles killing squirrel. Plus, the sound is less than a clap of the hands. The best part is that you could be shooting at your intruder several times and if you miss, he may not know you are shooting at him.
 
In my humble opinion, you practice HD outdoors or under simulated conditions, ALWAYS wearing hearing protection.

After that, most of us will never have to fire a weapon indoors for HD. If we do, it would hopefully be just once or twice in our lives, 2 or 3 shots.

3 shots from a snubbie .357 in your bedroom LIFETIME won't do as much hearing damage as the 4 years of Barry Manilow did, blaring from the 8-track in your Ford Econo-van back in the 70's. Or, the Kiss concerts, or, or.......

And... If you put your finger on the trigger in a HD situation and pull, you'd better be ready and willing to KILL SOMEONE. It's not about "shooting to scare" or "shooting to injure" or "just a warning shot". To think that in the dark, at night, under duress you'd be able to control emotions, adrelaline, and your aim is crazy. If you just want to scare someone or otherwise relieve yourself from the ultimate responsibility in a HD situation, buy mace or a stun gun.

My .02, your milage may vary.
 
Old Westerns

Some folks just might be excellent shooters like the old west characters. I am sure you've seen the likes of Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke and others.

I guess some people are such good shots that they can shoot the weapon out of a BD's hands. In fact, they can just meet the intruder outside in the driveway. That way they can have a draw like the cowboys did.

I was not aware of how educational all those old shows were.:D
 
Tap into some of the research by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman. (author 'on

killing 'on combat'). During body alarm reaction most people (85%. p55 'on

combat') don't hear their shots. If they do they sound more like squib loads.

Research has also shown that there is a biomechanical shutdown of the ear

for a millisecond to block out the loud noise of a firearm during a lethal force

encounter. In other words, there isn't hearing lose, nor will it deafen you

during the conflict (most of the time).

Load with what's effective, if your worried keep active ear muffs handy.

If you have time to get to the shotgun, you have time to don ear muffs.
 
Would like to learn more about the biomechanical shutdown. I am aware the ear can protect itself briefly from loud noises. But there is a limit to the protection. And gunfire is way beyond it.

Have fired an AK indoors once. It was stunning. As in your earing is fried for a couple minutes, and also could almost be described as glitching your brain working for a couple seconds. However, it as an AD. So I wasn't aware it was going to occur. Which would make some difference.

It also didn't leave me deaf. Nor would I hesitate to do that again in an HD situation. But the noise is way up there. I also suspect it would effect some more than others. The good part is the target at the other end of the barrel will be most effected.
 
"Honey" it sounds like someone is breaking into our house.Hell, they only want to rob us and rape you,,,no problem,, hey,, where are my ear plugs, I am gonna get my gun and protect you, as long as I don't hurt my hearing doing it.... Are you flaming NUTZ. Forget protecting what is yours and your family... just be careful you don't hurt your precious ears in doing so, Again,, are you guys flaming nutZ
 
Yeah, was aware of Auditory exclusion. Meaning you don't notice the sounds. But that is different from biomechanical protection. You could fail to hear the sounds in a tense situation, but the noise is loud enough to permanently damage hearing all the same.

And no Ruger 4570 we are not nuts. Were the situation to occur where lethal force was needed I would apply it and not think of my hearing. However, it is a concern to possibly do permanent damage to your hearing. By thinking about it now, possibly one can avoid it happening in the first place. If you don't value your hearing practice repeating shotgun fire indoors to train yourself.

Then in your little scenario Ruger 4570 it might be, "honey, honey, someone is breaking in the house?" "Huh?" "I said SOMEONE IS BREAKING IN!!" "huh?" "HELP< HELP!!!" "Huh?, what? did you say something dear?"

If one can come up with a method equally good, or nearly so that protects hearing it makes sense to do it. Though actually the potential to take out the bad guy is nowhere nearly as good with a pistol as it is for a shotgun or rifle.
 
To give my opinion on the original question, I think that a shotgun is going to hurt your ears less than a revolver.
 
I'd day .38 special would be the easiest on hearing. I can get to the 6th shot. (not tried often) before ears are at full ring.
 
I like .357 mag for ccw but for indoors I would consider the noise from one fired inside to be pure torture. .38's are seeming more appealing on that note. I cant fantham how a 12 guage would be quieter than a .38 special revolver.:confused:
 
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